The present invention relates generally to toy building blocks and, more particularly, to an adapter or adapter block which may be utilized for interconnecting toy building blocks in an orientation which is opposite to the orientation in which the blocks are usually or normally interconnected.
Toy building blocks have been shown to be helpful in developing hand and eye coordination, as well as in developing small muscle coordination in children. In addition, building blocks provide a source of amusement for children, as well as providing a sense of pride in accomplishing the building of a particular structure out of the blocks.
One type of building block which has become very popular with both younger and older children, as well as with adults, are hollow plastic toy building blocks having studs, projections or turrets on one end and having openings for receiving the turrets on the other end, permitting the turrets from one block to be inserted into the open end of another block for temporarily interconnecting the two blocks together with a gripping force. Such blocks are shown and described in expired U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,282. The blocks shown in this patent are commercially available from a variety of manufacturers in a large variety of shapes, sizes and colors. The manufacturers also provide a variety of specialized blocks, including blocks having particular angles, clear plastic blocks for forming windows, windshields, etc., doors, angled roof blocks and the like. As a result, the structures which could be created are limited only by the mind of the particular user.
While the use of such plastic blocks provide great flexibility, there is one other substantial limitation on the use of these blocks. That limitation is that the blocks must be interconnected in a single orientation in which a first or top end of one block which contains the generally cylindrical primary projections or turrets engages the open bottom end of a second block, the sidewalls and/or a tubular secondary projection within the second block gripping the primary turrets on the first block for holding the two blocks together. In the present application, the interconnection of the blocks in this manner is referred to as the "normal" manner of interconnecting the blocks. Thus, with the blocks of this type, it is not possible to interconnect the bottom ends of two blocks to each other, nor is it possible to interconnect the first or top ends of two blocks together. Of course, such a limitation is of no importance with respect to the standard or regular square or rectangular building blocks of the type shown and described in the aforesaid patent since, once the blocks are interconnected, the outward appearance of the blocks is the same regardless of the orientation in which the blocks are connected. However, this limitation becomes important in the case of some of the specialty blocks, for example the roof blocks of the type shown in expired U.S. Pat. No. 3,034,254, as well as other specialty blocks having irregular or unusual shapes. In building some structures, it may be desirable to have the ability to place such roof blocks or other specialty blocks in the structure with an orientation other than the normal orientation. Orienting the roof blocks and specialty blocks in this manner is not possible with the prior art building blocks, because the blocks can only be interconnected in the normal manner as described above.
The present invention comprises an adapter or adapter block, which allows hollow plastic toy building blocks of the type discussed above to be interconnected with an orientation which is opposite the orientation required for normal interconection. One embodiment of the present invention permits the first or top end of one toy building block to be interconnected top to top with the first or top end of another toy building block, so that the top or first ends of the two blocks are facing each other. Another embodiment of the present invention permits the second end or open bottom end of one toy buiding block to be interconnected bottom to bottom with the second end or open bottom end of another toy building block, so that the open bottom ends are facing each other.